


Sticker Book

by Cryptographic_Delurk



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Awkwardness, Fluff, Just Roll With It, M/M, Other, Study Date, Trans Shirogane Naoto, Unspecified Yasogami High School Post-Canon, ambiguous if it's binary or non-binary Naoto but it's he/him transmasculine Naoto at least
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:27:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24813814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cryptographic_Delurk/pseuds/Cryptographic_Delurk
Summary: Naoto and Kanji try and fail to study for exams.
Relationships: Shirogane Naoto/Tatsumi Kanji
Comments: 18
Kudos: 87





	Sticker Book

“No, I’m not going.” Rise whipped her head back around so fast that her pigtails spun into Naoto’s face. She’d woven streamers of pink and yellow ribbon into them, and the stiff acrylic feel of them irritated Naoto’s nose.

“Have we-” _done something to upset you?_ Naoto cleared his throat and tried again. “May I ask why, Kujikawa-san?”

Rise peaked back around from behind her shoulder. She gave a tremendous pout, before relenting. “Because you guys are the worst to third wheel for,” she groused. “A beautiful young lady like Risette doesn’t exactly enjoy standing between the two of you and being completely ignored while you make eyes at each other.”

“We don’t make eyes at each other,” Naoto protested.

Rise looked ready to argue the point.

Naoto swiftly cut her off at the pass. “And, anyhow, we need to study,” Naoto shot in. “So there’s no time for any of us to be making eyes at anything other than a textbook.”

“Look, just-” Rise huffed. “I’m doing you a favour, Naoto-kun. Some alone time with Kanji-kun. Just the two of you. Studying at his place. Please use this opportunity to get together already. And once you do you can hurry through the whole annoying honeymoon phase. And I promise I’ll still be here for the two of you once you’ve gotten your head out of the clouds. Please.”

Rise had timed that perfectly, because that was the exact moment their literature teacher arrived. Rise and Naoto hurried to face the front of the classroom and incline their heads respectfully.

Naoto found himself distracted, as they went through their reading. The gift bag peaking out from under Rise’s desk. The nape of her neck. Cataloguing the people he’d seen her interact with over the last week. It was a little detective game, more about the process than the answer.

_I think Rise has someone else she’s meeting. Possible suspects: Tanaka in 3-2, Kurasawa in 1-1, her manager, a tub of fermented tofu._ Things to tell Kanji to justify it being only the two of them.

In the end, all Naoto said was “Kujikawa-san’s not coming”. He flipped his blazer and briefcase over his shoulder, and stood firmly with his feet spread apart at shoulder distance. He had already put on his outdoor shoes – a clean cut pair of blue loafers.

“Oh.” Kanji blushed and looked down at his holey socks. “Guess it’s just us then.”

==

“Tatsumi-kun, you are staring.” Naoto kept his voice even and his eyes locked on his notes. “Whatever the answer to your chemistry problem is, I’m pretty sure it’s not written on my face.”

There was a rush of flustered apologies.

“It’s alright,” Naoto reassured. “Just… study.”

He only got through another three pages of Hosoi-sensei’s notes on nineteenth century literary movements, before he noticed Kanji staring again.

“Tatsumi-kun,” Naoto warned.

“Look, sorry,” Kanji said. “I’m just- I’ll try, I’m just not very good at studyin’ on a normal day and-”

“If you don’t do well on your exams-” Naoto cut himself off abruptly. _You won’t be able to_ _get into a good university? You won’t graduate with honours?_ Kanji wouldn’t _what_ , exactly? In all likelihood Kanji’s mother didn’t have the money to send him off to university. He would stay at home, help with the shop, and look after his mother. And then take over the business someday. The worst that could come of failed exams was a few months in supplementary lessons while everyone else vacationed.

That was all the more reason that encouraging _this_ was foolish. They came from very different backgrounds and were headed very different places. The likelihood of _this_ going anywhere was slim at best. Not to mention they were-

Naoto was saved from thinking about this more when Kanji’s mother called through the door.

“Be right there, Ma!” Kanji replied, and hurried out of the room.

Naoto tried to keep on with studying, but it seemed an exercise in futility. He scooted out from under Kanji’s short legged table, and pressed up onto his feet.

Kanji’s room had changed since Naoto had last seen it. It still had the usual posters, and the beckoning cat statue on the dresser. Cologne and hair gel set out in front of the mirror. But it seemed warmer and cosier. There was a tray on the desk cluttered with needles and baubles and rhinestones and rolls of patterned stationery tape. Bolts of coloured felt and cotton leaned against the wall. The number of stuffed animals in the room had grown exponentially since Kanji had worked up the courage to join the sewing club. The current line up included a set of crochet bears dressed in what appeared to be gothic lolita.

Naoto thought about some of the cruder comments that Yosuke had made, and wondered if he should check the drawers or under the bed. But no- This wasn’t a detective novel. This wasn’t a raid. Kanji wasn’t a suspect. What type of hypothetical porn mags Kanji bought didn’t matter.

Kanji could be heard ascending the stairs, and Naoto hurried to sit back down.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Kanji said, slamming the door open and closed with one hand. The other was balancing a tray weighted with iced tea, sliced peaches, and cheesy puffs. “Ma’s always on me to be a good host,” Kanji offered sheepishly, as he attempted to clear a space to set it.

He eventually gave up and sat the tray on top of his textbook, wrinkling the edge of an open page.

Naoto sat silently for a moment, then reached for a peach slice. It was very sweet, to contrast the bitter flavour of the tea he chased it with.

“How old is your mother, Tatsumi-kun?”

“Aw, geez. Let’s see. Her birthday’s in April so…” Kanji appeared to do some quick calculations in his head. “Fifty-three? Fifty-four?”

Naoto counted this back against Kanji’s age. “She had you late.”

Kanji appeared not to know what to say to this.

Naoto felt a sudden burst of camaraderie. His grandfather was in his sixties, not that much older.  There was something lonely about watching your only parent age.

“She’s always been very polite to me,” Naoto complimented. Not that Naoto had ever given her reason to be otherwise. “She seems conservative. I mean in how she carries herself – quiet but well spoken, generous without being ostentatious, and always in a kimono – not necessarily politically.” Naoto considered this more. “Although I suppose she could be. They say that the more aged someone is the more they’ll support conservative candidates. Although in my personal experience that hasn’t often been true.”

Kanji was red faced when he answered.  “I don’t really know much about politics.”

Naoto nodded. He supposed he better offer something more substantial.  “My grandfather follows the Minshutou. I think he was mostly happy to see the Jimintou face some opposition in parliament though, even if nothing really came of it. He calls them a party of chameleons, adapting to the environment without any idea of principles. I suppose I agree that any worthwhile governance will be carried out by those who understand there’s more at stake than their own comfort.”

“I… don’t really know much about politics,” Kanji repeated. He seemed embarrassed.

 _Ah._ Naoto could see now that his attempts to put Kanji at ease by speaking personally and personably had only overwhelmed Kanji instead. Unfortunate. “I see…”

Kanji rubbed at his arm anxiously. He seemed to struggle with himself for a moment.  “Well, I guess I know a little.”  Kanji laughed anxiously. “I know  Inaba’s mayor, Ninamori-san, has been in office for longer than I’ve been alive. I dunno if he does much of anythin’ though. Everyone here in the CBD suspects he took money from Junes to get the development permits through, so Ma thinks he might be in hot water for the next election.”

It was a far cry from discussing Confucius and Locke and Tokutomi with grandfather. Naoto got the distinct impression he and Kanji  might as well have been speaking entirely different languages.

Naoto hunched down to rest his elbow against his crossed legs. He felt oddly disappointed in himself. He attempted to quash the feeling as he went back to his notes.

He read a page, and when he reached the bottom realised he couldn’t remember any of its contents. He started again from the top. Rinse and repeat twice more.

“You’re not wrong.” Kanji interrupted. “Ma is traditional at least.”

Naoto looked up from his notes, and watched as Kanji fiddled anxiously with his thumbs.

“This feels a bit deviant. Like I’m getting one over on Ma,” Kanji admitted. “She probably wouldn’t let me take you up to my room and close the door and all if she knew you-” Kanji frowned and squinted at his notes in confusion, like he wasn’t quite sure how he’d intended to finish that sentence. “If you were a girl,” he corrected.

Naoto had read at least a few forum posts of the opinion that the fleeting joy of falling under the parental radar was one of the few justices in the world for people like them. He was not sure how to impart this information on Kanji though.

“What is it about me that you like?” was the thing that came out of his mouth instead.

And Naoto found himself genuinely curious. He’d been approached by more than one girl that claimed to have fallen for his mystique as ‘Detective Prince’. But there was something that had always been off-putting and intimidating about their attention. Like he was only bound to disappoint them. He wasn’t sure what made Kanji different.

“Well, what’s not to like?” Kanji sputtered defensively. His face had gone completely red. “You’re brave, and smart, and capable, and really passionate about the things you like.”

It was flattering, and Naoto thought he could have said much the same about Kanji, but- “That wasn’t what I meant, Tatsumi-kun. What is it you like about my… appearance?”

Kanji seemed to go even redder. He spent a moment staring at his lap and then. “I mean, I don’t know,” he rushed out in an indignant squawk. “To be honest you’re kinda a total square. You look like a salaryman the way you’re always walkin’ around in a dress shirt and tie. It’s not the kind of thing I thought I’d go for,” he admitted. “I mean, I dunno what kind of thing I thought I’d go for. It’s just somehow you’re really cute. And handsome.”

Naoto was pretty sure his face was just about as red as Kanji’s now.  And his mind felt oddly blank.  “We should get back to studying.”

Things were even worse now though. Kanji kept glancing at him intermittently, and Naoto was finding it difficult to focus even when Kanji wasn’t looking. You just- couldn’t think clearly when someone was always watching you, Naoto reasoned.

“Tatsumi-kun,” Naoto sighed wearily, the next time Kanji glanced over.

“I’m sorry,” Kanji whined. “I- Look, I have a good idea!” He stood up, and went to dig through one of his drawers. When he came back, he was carrying what appeared to be a sticker book.

He flipped through the pages, and peeled a couple of glittery dots up onto his nails. He reached over Naoto’s notes, and placed rocket ships and robots and stars to replace the bullet points preceding the notes. “I’ve heard if you do this it will help keep your attention on the page.”

Naoto huffed a laugh. “I’m pretty sure that’s not how that works, Tatsumi-kun.”

Kanji hummed non-committally and kept decorating the page.

“Where did you even get these?” Naoto demanded. “And they’re not exactly your aesthetic.”

“I got ‘em from Junes,” Kanji said. “Don’t tell Ma.” He didn’t comment on the rest. Which wasn’t very smooth of him, Naoto thought.

Naoto propped his head on his arm and considered his increasingly sparkly set of notes, and the way Kanji’s hand moved deftly over the page.

And maybe Rise had a point. Involving oneself in a callow love affair might lead one to folly and distraction.  But they were both already being very foolish and distracted. Maybe it would be better just to act on it and get it out of their systems. _Hurry through the whole annoying honeymoon phase_ , as Rise had said.

Naoto shifted so he was sitting on his knees. “Tatsumi-kun.”

“Huh?” Kanji looked up.

Naoto swiftly pressed his lips up against Kanji’s. He wasn’t really sure whether he should close his eyes, or tilt his head, or do more than hold his mouth there. But it was warm, and kind of nice. Intimate.

He pulled back and studied Kanji. Who was sitting a bit rigidly, with a  look like his circuits had just shorted.

“Do you think you can focus better now?” Naoto asked, determined.

“Uhhh, Naoto, uhhh,” was Kanji’s great contribution to this conversation. He shook his head a little. “Not really,” he admitted.

Naoto pouted, and scooted a bit closer so their thighs were touching.

Yeah, Naoto didn’t think he could focus any better now either.


End file.
